Mayor Michael Bloomberg is leaving office with the fewest murders and shootings in recorded city history.
He made the announcement Friday along with NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly at the graduation ceremony for 1,171 new police officers at Madison Square Garden.
“New York’s crime-fighting strategies have made us America’s safest big city – and one that cities across the globe want to learn from,” said Bloomberg. “Twelve years ago, no one thought New York’s crime rate could go any lower. But it did.”
There have been 332 homicides so far in 2013, down 20 percent from the previous record low, set last year, according to the mayor. Murders have dropped 32 percent since 2001, when he was elected.
In Queens, there were 1,374 fewer homicides between 2002 and December 20 of this year than during the 12 years prior to that period.
Shootings have declined by 20 percent from 2012’s record low, with 1,093 shootings through Thursday, December 26, and have dropped by 32 percent since 2001.
The city began recording homicide numbers in 1963, when there were 548 murders. The homicide rate peaked in 1990 with 2,245 deaths, according to Police Department stats.
Shootings statistics were first recorded with the introduction of NYPD’s Compstat crime reporting system in 1994, according to the mayor.
Crime in schools and on the subway has also seen significant drops in recent years.
Major crimes in schools are down 56 percent and violent crime has decreased 55 percent since 2001.
In 1990, there were 50 crimes per day on the subway, and only 7.1 crimes per day in 2013.
The mayor said the crime drop could not be attributed to putting more people in prison, since incarceration rates have decreased since 2001.
Policing strategies, such as Operation Impact, which pairs rookie and veteran officers to “flood high-crime zones” and Operation Crew Cut, an initiative combating loosely affiliated gangs, helped keep the shooting and murder rates down, the mayor said.
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